Mission and History

Make Kids Smile Inc. was founded in 1999 as a local non-profit, tax-exempt organization, exclusively for philanthropic purposes. The primary goal of Make Kids Smile Inc. is to provide playground equipment for underprivileged children in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area who do not otherwise have safe recreational equipment to use and enjoy in their own neighborhoods.

Make Kids Smile Inc. raises money for the playground equipment and donates the materials to the recipient. If you are interested in having a playground installed at your organization, please visit the Apply page to send us your information. Make Kids Smile will coordinate volunteers to assemble and install the project, and will also pay a certified installer to be present on the day of the build to ensure the project is properly constructed and meets all applicable safety standards. Check out our Volunteers page to find out how you can become involved.

The Ognibene family founded the Make Kids Smile organization to meet the need for neighborhood play spaces for under-resourced children. We are deeply grateful for all our sponsors who have generously contributed their time and money to this organization.